what kind of chickens?

Re: what kind of chickens?

Wed Jun 07, 2017 6:05 am

It occurred to me, now that we are letting the chickens out into larger area and they have access to more different plants, that I should look up plants that could be toxic to them. Turns out there's quite a list. Many of them are not things that our chickens would ever have access to and some of them are obvious like poison hemlock and jimson weed. But still it made me think.

Things growing in our yard that are likely toxic to the chickens if they get to them: azalea, pokeberry, milkweed, rhubarb leaves, cardinal flower, daffodil, tulip, nicotiana (ornamental tobacco), raw beans, oak leaves and acorns (our yard is FULL of acorns and baby oak seedlings!) If they got into the compost pile, avocado skins and coffee grounds are toxic.

Re: what kind of chickens?

Wed Jun 07, 2017 9:13 pm

It's good to be aware, but don't get too alarmed. In a lot of the "don't feed" list, there are caveats. For example, some lists will say don't feed them potatoes. Potatoes are fine, but they shouldn't have potatoes that are green. Something in a green areas of the skin doesn't sit well with them. Rather than launch into a whole explanation for each item, the list just says don't feed potatoes. Avocados do contain a toxic fatty acid derivative known as persin. According to the Merck Veterinary Manual (google it and save the link), levels of toxicity vary between the two types of avocados (Mexican and Guatemalan) that grow in California and toxicity also tends to vary depending upon the time of year, so they recommend not giving avocados to animals. I think most of the persin is in the pit and skin. That doesn't mean the chicken will drop dead if she eats a bit of avocado -- some folks do include avocado bits in with kitchen scraps they feed to their chickens -- but more than an occasional bit isn't good for them. A lot of those warnings are like the warnings not to feed chocolate to dogs. Yes, if you regularly feed your dog chocolate, it might affect their eyesight; but an occasional lick of chocolate as a special treat isn't going to make him drop dead.

I let my chickens free-range over an acre of property and even in my garden. I haven't lost one yet to toxicity. That doesn't mean I never will, but the chickens seem to have a certain predilection for things that won't make them sick.....at least they do after trying it the first time.

Re: what kind of chickens?

RE: " coffee can, sand bucket with you and put them in as you pick them off your plants ...cutworms, hornworms, slugs, those shiny green June beetles you posted about last year.."

Found a baby hornworm on a tomato plant and carried it over to the chicken cage. It was snatched up almost before it hit the ground! I need to check carefully--if there was one, there are likely more.

It is very cool having the grubs and hornworms and stuff transformed from pests to valuable protein for my chickens! I feel so perma-culturey !

PS. I have some wonderful cherry tomatoes ripe now. I will have to look up what variety they are--they ripen to orange. They are very sweet and very tomatoey. I gave the chickens the cut off tops and they loved them.

Re: what kind of chickens?

Wed Jun 21, 2017 10:12 am

This was a picture I posted May 26

rainbowgardener wrote:They are hard to get pictures of, in a shady area and behind fences. This is a picture I found on line of a Buff Orpington at about the same stage as ours, with just a little bit of comb.

Dorothy (of the Golden Girls) seems to be a little bit ahead of the other two in maturity. So one month later and she is now looking exactly like how they say they will look when they are ready to start laying:

So we put a couple golf balls in each nest box in lieu of practice eggs and are starting to watch for eggs!

The Americaunas are one week younger and are showing very little comb development. But apparently this variety doesn't necessarily ever have a lot of comb/wattles. I need to get pictures of them. They are beautiful and each one different.

Re: what kind of chickens?

Sat Jun 24, 2017 8:39 pm

So I finally took some pictures of my actual chickens:

"Robin"

"Quail"

"Hawk"

Most of them together

That's the space between the shed and their coop and run. Their walking around area wraps all the way around the coop/run and is definitely wider on the other side.... If you click to enlarge this picture, you can see "Dorothy" in the front with the most fully developed comb and wattle.

Re: what kind of chickens?

Wed Jun 28, 2017 12:23 pm

Just a fun little observation:

Earlier in the season, my chickens had been enjoying lettuce from my garden. They do like their greens! I've given them lots of different things: parsley, carrot tops, wild violets and plantain, etc. But the lettuce is long since bolted and gone to seed. I kept some of it around to re-seed itself and now was pulling it. So I pulled some of the remaining leaves off the lettuce stalk and gave them to the chickens. They took a couple tentative pecks and walked away. Very clearly telling me that lettuce was no good any more!

So they do have something in lieu of taste buds that tells them what is good to eat and what isn't and they won't just eat anything. Nice to know.

Re: what kind of chickens?

Wed Jul 12, 2017 3:52 pm

Our first home grown egg!! The light bleaches it out a bit. It is actually light brown. That's a teaspoon next to it, so you can see it is smaller than usual and more pointed. I hear that is typical when they first start laying. We are egg ladies!

I'm pretty sure I know which chicken laid it. It is brown, so it is from one of the Golden Girls (Buff Orpingtons). Dorothy is noticeably more mature as far as comb and wattle development, so it is presumably her. But I would think that means the others aren't too far behind. The Golden Girls are 21 weeks now and the Ameraucanas are 20.

Yay!

Incidentally, it was actually in one of the nest boxes. How do they know that is where they are supposed to lay them?